Coming clean
by starryskiesx
Summary: Miley's with Josh Cullings, and she really likes him. BUT complications arise. Will she tell Josh about Hannah? Jake makes an appearance. Will Miley be able to keep her secret safe from the world? Read to find out. MileyOC, possible Loliver some Jiley R
1. First encounter

His lips felt so soft against hers as they kissed beneath the stars. When they pulled apart she fell into his arms and they tightened around her. She felt she could stay in that moment forever…

"Miley…Miley…MILEY!"

"Huh?" Miley's eyes snapped open to find she was still at school. "Aw man! That was a good fantasy!"

"Jake again?" Lily asked knowingly. Miley looked at her awkwardly and nodded. "Miley, you haven't seen him for three months; you have to get over him."

"I know, I know. It's just…hard."

"All I'm saying is that you have to get over him, before you go crazy!"

"You know what Lily? You're right. I'll stop thinking about Jake…just after I finish this fantasy." Miley sighed and closed her eyes, allowing herself to be whisked away into the arms of-

BAM.

She had tripped and was flying through the air and was about to fall when someone came out of nowhere and grabbed her by both shoulders, steadying her. By his height and muscular build Miley could tell her 'savior' was a boy, she recognized as he steadied himself from under her. Miley thought she would die from embarrassment. The boy was still holding onto her shoulders and she had collapsed against his chest, so she tried to regain her balance. She looked up into his eyes and lost her balance…again.

His eyes were one of the most beautiful she had ever seen. They were brown with gold flecks in them and twinkled mischievously, a good compliment to his charming smile, which made her weak at the knees.

"Are you ok?" the owner of the eyes asked concernedly. He was a boy of her age, but she had never seen him before.

"Y-yeah. I'… I'm fine." she said when she found her voice. When she realized she was still staring at him she embarrassedly got back up and rearranged her bag which had twisted around to her back.

"Hi. I'm Josh Cullings," he finally said and stuck out his hand. Josh Cullings was quite tall and muscular; he had sandy brown hair and amazing brown eyes that Miley couldn't stop staring at.

Miley shook his hand and said, "Hi, I'm Miley… Are you new here?"

"Yeah, I just moved in from Santa Cruz. Um…this is kinda embarrassing, but I'm lost. Could you tell me where," he pulled out a small scrap of paper, "locker 126 is?"

Miley smirked playfully, regaining her confidence, "sure. Now listen because this is a bit difficult. Turn around," Josh turned around. "And take about ten steps that way."

Josh turned back to her and smiled warmly. "I think I can manage that, thanks. Maybe I'll see you around."

"Yeah," she mumbled absent mindedly. He waved slightly, and then left.

"Did you see that Miley?!" Lily cried grabbing her arm.

"See what?"

"The sparks!"

"What sparks? I don't know what you're talking about."

"The sparks between you and newbie, ooh I get chills just _thinking _about it!"

Miley rolled her eyes and rearranged her books in her arms. "You keep thinking that Lily, in the meantime, come back to my locker with me, I have to put my math book back." Lily rolled her ayes and followed Miley down the hallway.

"Hey Miley," Lily said. Miley turned to face her. "Did he say his locker was number 126?"

"I think so…why?" Lily pointed behind Miley, and Miley turned around to see Josh struggling with the lock on his locker. The comical image made Miley laugh inwardly as she walked over to him. She went to her locker, which coincidentally was right next to his, and opened it with ease. He looked at her in awe.

"Could you teach me? I don't know how to work this thing."

"Sure. You just…" after Josh finally managed to open his locker he said,

"Thanks for that. We should be getting to class. I guess I'll see you around Miley," he grinned again and closed his locker.

As he was turning around Miley blurted out after him, "Do you want to sit with us at lunch?"

He looked over his shoulder, beaming at her. "Sure, I'll see you then."

"See ya." Miley was smiling like crazy when she walked away. She couldn't explain it, when she was around Josh she felt comfortable. His confidence was contagious. Maybe Lily was right. Maybe it _was _time to move on.

Miley sat at a table in the cafeteria drumming her fingernails against the wood. For the umpteenth time she looked over the cafeteria and there was no sign of Josh.

"What are you looking for?" Lily asked, following Miley's moving gaze.

"I invited Josh to come sit with us, that's all." Lily beamed and took a bite out of her banana. "Have you seen Oliver?" Miley asked, changing the subject.

"Right there," Lily said pointing across the room, "and look, he's got a friend." The 'friend' turned around and looked directly at Miley. There was no mistaking that grin, it was Josh.

"That's Josh, Lily."

"Oh. I knew that."

"Hey guys," Oliver said and sat down, "this is Josh. Josh this is M-"

"Hi Miley," Josh interrupted leaving Oliver looking shocked.

"You know each other already?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah," he said, "We kind of…bumped into each other this morning," he said and winked, causing Miley to blush furiously. "I don't know you though," he said, indicating Lily.

"I'm wiwy." She said through a mouthful of banana.

"She's Lily," Miley clarified. Josh chuckled and took a bite out of his apple. He was so cute when he smiled, Miley thought.

"Oh oh, A&A alert at twelve o'clock," Lily muttered in her ear. Sure enough, Amber and Ashley were walking straight towards them, their too-high-heels clacking annoyingly against the floor. Amber swooped down at Josh's shoulder and traced circles on his arm.

"Well hello there, I haven't seen _you _before," she said seductively. Josh looked up awkwardly at her.

"Uh…hi," he said.

"Wouldn't you much rather sit with _us _than with a loser like Stewart?" Josh frowned, removed her hand from his shoulder and stood up.

"No actually, I wouldn't. And _Miley _is not a loser."

"You're going to regret that," Amber scowled.

"Yeah, you're going to regret that." Ashley added. They both humphed and strutted away. Josh sat down scowling. Miley was amazed, no one had ever stood up to Amber and Ashley before, and now he was doing it for someone he had just met.

"Dude, are you crazy? Amber and Ashley are going to KILL you!" Oliver exclaimed.

"Who cares? They were being mean, I _had _to do _something_."

"I still think you're crazy."

"Thanks Josh," Miley said, "that was really nice." Josh gave her a smile and shrugged. "So you're from Santa Cruz?"

"Yeah, there's great surfing there."

"Really? I've never been."

Josh opened his mouth in surprise. "You live right next to the beach and you've _never _been surfing?" Miley shook her head embarrassedly. "You should definitely give it a go; I could teach you."

"I'd like that."


	2. Sponges

Over the next two months Josh, Miley, Lily and Oliver had become close friends. They spent their days going over to each others' houses, to the mall, the beach and other places they found. The more time Miley spent with Josh, the more she liked him. He was very easy to get along with, she found. It was a Thursday afternoon, Lily had soccer practice and Oliver apparently had a hot date, when her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey Miles."

"Hi Daddy, what's up?

"I have a meeting this afternoon about Hannah's interview tomorrow, and Jackson's working so I don't want you home alone."

"That's ok; I'll just hang out with Josh."

"That new kid? Alright then. I'll see you when I get home. Love you."

"Love you too," Miley said and clicked her phone off. Miley walked out the gates of the school where she saw Josh walking along the sidewalk. She ran up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey Miley," he said and grinned.

"Hi Josh. I was wondering, my dad has a meeting about-" she quickly held her tongue, "about this…thing. Yeah, and Lily has soccer practice and Oliver has a hot date, though I don't believe him, anyway-" she said all this very fast and was out of breath.

"Yes Miley, sure you can hang out with me," he interrupted before she hurt herself. Miley blushed and Josh chuckled.

"Thanks."

"So what do you want to do?"

"Well after Lily's finished soccer practice I told her I'd meet her at Rico's surf shop. So we have an hour to kill."

"Sounds good. Do you want to leave your things at my place?"

"Sure." Josh lived two blocks away from school, so after a quick walk down and some cereal for afternoon tea, they went down to the beach. Miley loved the sensation of the sand between her toes, and the wind blowing through her hair. She looked over at Josh who had his hands in his pockets and was looking out at the sea, a thoughtful look on his face.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked as they sat down on the warm sand.

He turned his head back to her, "Nothing, it's embarrassing."

"All the more reason to tell me," she teased. He rolled his eyes and played with a blade of grass pushing up from the sand.

"You really want to know?" He looked into Miley's eyes which caused the butterflies in her stomach to fly. She shrugged and held her knees to her chest. "I was just thinking," Josh was twisting the blade of grass until it snapped, "about…how pretty I think you are." He looked up at her a sheepish grin on his face. For a moment Miley was stunned, then she was immensely flattered and happy. She smiled and leant against his shoulder. She could feel him breathe a sigh of relief beneath her head.

"Come here," she said and pulled Josh up by his hands. Miley ran into the ocean until she was knees up in water. She looked back to the ocean to see Josh walking towards her smiling at her. For the first time in months Miley felt truly happy with a guy; she felt crazy, she felt reckless, but most of all she felt happy. She _was _happy. And then he was right in front of her.

"What are you doing?" he asked playfully.

"Improvising."

"You're crazy…that's why I like you." He tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, and pressed his forehead against hers. "I _do_ like you…a lot," he murmured, and Miley's heart quickened.

"Me too."

"So I was wondering if maybe, you know if you're not busy or anything, if you might…you know…"

"Of course. Now shut up," Miley said and leant up and kissed him. Miley was astounded b y her own bravery, she just felt so at ease around him. He wrapped his arms around her and when they broke apart she leant into his chest. They stayed there as the waves beat gently against their legs.

"MILEY! JOSH!" Someone was calling their names from up the beach. Miley looked around to see Lily standing on the beach waving her arms around. Miley was furious, they were in the middle of something! Oh Lily was going to pay.

"We should go see what the emergency is," Josh joked and placed his arm around her shoulder as they walked back to Lily.

"What is it Lily?" Miley demanded.

"Oh I don't know, maybe I was a little annoyed that you kept me waiting for, oh I don't know, AN HOUR!" Miley examined her watch and saw Lily was right.

"Oops. Sorry about that."

"So are we going to the mall or what?" Lily asked.

Miley turned to Josh, "Do you want to come with us?"

"Hm, the prospect of hunting through shoes for three hours is _really _tempting, but I'll have to take a rain check," Josh teased and Miley smirked at him, "I told the Darrin twins I'd watch their band practice."

"Oh. Ok then, I'll see you tomorrow," she said and kissed him on the cheek. When Josh had disappeared from sight Lily turned on her.

"Miley, did I interrupt anything before?"

Miley raised her eyebrows at her, "you think?"

"Oops. My bad. So tell me, what happened?"

"Well…he told me he liked me, and I told him I liked him. Then…we kissed."

"Oooh! I like this story. So now what?"

"I don't know. You _interrupted _before we could say anything."

"Sorry."

"Yeah, so you should be. Anyway, are we going to go shopping or what?" Miley said and pulled Lily along with her, "I need some sponges."

**AN: SPONGES!!!!! (hehe sponge OCD)**


	3. Red's place

**AN: Blah, this was one of my least favourite chapters to write (I have 7 so far). It's so…mushy. But, meh, I know some of you guys are into that kind of thing.**

**AN update October 27: Ok I redid the beginning of this chapter, before it had Josh in the band. I read it again and was like, "BARF! MUST! CHANGE!" So anyhoo…**

Josh asked Miley if she wanted to go out to on Friday, and of course, with Miley's luck, she had to say no because of Hannah's interview. So she postponed it to Saturday. Everything was great, Miley had a great outfit, her hair was perfect, and she felt confident. Yes, everything was great. She leant against the couch and smiled privately.

"I know that face," Jackson said from behind her.

"What face? I have no face- wait…"

"It's the face that says I've-got-a-date-with-a-guy-I-really-like."

"Shut up, Jackson"

"Ooooooh Miley's got a boooyfriend," he said in an annoying sing-song voice.

Miley turned around and retorted, "Well _you're _jealous because you haven't gone on a date since pre-school." Before Jackson could retaliate, a knocking came from the door. "Bye Jackson, tell dad I've gone out," she said, grabbed her purse, and opened the door. Josh was standing there, in all his beautiful perfection and gorgeousness. "Hi Josh," she said and hugged him, "so, where are we going?"

"I thought we'd go down to this new place on the beach; the Darrin twins' band is playing down there, I thought we'd go check it out."

"What are they called?"

"Red's place." Miley raised an eyebrow, to which Josh said, "Denis was wearing a red shirt that day" Josh took Miley's hand and they walked down to the beach then a few blocks beside the sand, talking animatedly along the way. He led her into a small café called 'The Red Rock Café'.

Miley looked around. They were in a small room which, besides them, had only six or seven occupants since they had arrived before main business time.

"Denis told me to get here early so they could talk with us for a while." Denis was one of the Darrin twins, the other was called Derek. Miley also knew that Mark Flinley from her biology class played drums in the band and Kevin Simmonds was the lead singer and a guitarist.

"Hey Josh!" Denis said, coming up from behind Josh, Derek and Mark following.

"What's up guys?" Josh asked and stood up to greet them.

"Nothing really. Sorry Kevin couldn't be here, he got a little nervous and…well, barfy." Derek informed.

"Ooh," Josh winced. "Is he going to be ok?"

"Yeah, I'm sure he'll be fine," Mark said.

"Are you guys nervous?" Miley asked.

"Psht, Naw. Only wimps like Kevin get nervous," Derek bragged.

"You want to saw that to my face?" Derek looked up to see Kevin standing over him with a frown on his face.

His nose crinkled in disgust, "Gross, Kevin, you have puke breath," he said and pulled out a box of mints from his jacket. He held one out to Kevin, pinching his nose, and Kevin scowled and took it.

"We should get going," Denis said. "I'll see you later, Josh. Bye, Miley." Josh and Miley waved and watched them go into a back room behind the stage.

Josh laughed quietly, "Those guys are hilarious."

"I hope everything turns alright."

"Don't worry about it, I've watched them practice, they're great."

A few minutes later Kevin stumbled nervously onto the stage. After they had set up Kevin said, "Uh…hi," he began, "We are Red's place, and tonight we will be playing for you guys. Um…we hope you enjoy it'." The audience clapped politely and he glanced back awkwardly at Denis on bass guitar, who nodded reassuringly at him.

They started playing…

When they struck the last cord the café gave polite applause and they all gave small bows. They hurriedly packed up and left the stage so it was ready for the next band to come on. They returned into the room where they had gone into before.

Minutes later, the boys came back, big grins on their face.

"That was awesome guys!" she said.

"Wow, I've never done something as…AMAZING as that," Kevin said, thrilled.

They all talked animatedly, having some good fun. All along Josh held Miley's hand under the table. It felt only natural. The sun was hanging low in the sky; Miley assumed there was a half hour before it set.

Josh looked out the window, turned back to Miley and said, "The sun's already setting. Come on, I want to show you something," he grinned playfully and pulled Miley out of the café and into the parking lot, where a few bikes were stationed.

Josh quickly undid the chain on a red bike and said, "I'm sure Mark won't mind if we borrow this. Hop on."

"Wait. You want me…to ride on…that?"

"No. I want the bike to ride on you." Miley rolled her eyes and perched precariously on the top tube of the frame of the bike, a little uneasily, but she trusted Josh. Josh pushed off from the curb and started slowly down the street. When they had built up momentum Miley found she was enjoying the experience; the wind blowing through her hair, the salty sea air tickling her nose, _not to mention his warm arms around me, _Miley added slyly.

Soon Josh stopped peddling and he jumped off, the movement causing Miley to lose her balance. Josh caught her and the bike in one swift move and grinned at her, and pulled her onto the beach. They were at a small, secluded beach with some small cliffs on the side. The water lapped gently against the sandy shore, and they sky was tinged with pink.

"Where are we going?" she laughed.

"Come on," he answered back. They were nearing the cliffs that shadowed the beach. Josh climbed up with ease and held out his hand to Miley. She took it and he pulled her up. They both scrambled up the cliff and collapsed on the top. Josh leant back on his hands and Miley curled up beside him.

Josh pointed out to sea. "Now isn't that the most beautiful sunset you've ever seen?"

Miley had to agree with him; the sun was a glowing, fiery ball hanging above them colouring the sky orange, purple and pink. "It sure is. How'd you find this place?"

"I'm an explorer, it's what I do: I explore. This was one of the places I explored." Miley laughed and Josh put his arm around her. "You're a special girl, Miley," he said and looked her in the eyes. Miley smiled and gave him a kiss, which he gladly returned. "But really," he said when they pulled apart, "I'm serious. There's…something…something about you. I'll tell you when I find out what it is. "You got something to you. A great quality. I'll tell you when I find out what it is. ... it's probably your quirkiness" he finished teasingly. Miley looked up at Josh, who was once again staring out to the horizon, a slight smile on his face.

They sat there until the sun was just poking above the horizon. "We should be getting back; Mark might want his bike back." Miley chuckled and nodded. They climbed back down the cliff, to the bike and rode back to the café, where they found a slightly-ticked-off Mark waiting for them.

Josh skidded the bike to a halt, making Miley squeal. He laughed and they got off the bike.

"Well, I'm glad you two had fun. May I have my bike back now?" Mark said in an annoyed tone.

"Sorry man, I owe you one," Josh said and handed the bike back to Mark. He huffily jammed his helmet onto his head and sped away. When Mark was out of sight Josh said, "I think he took that rather well."

"Surprisingly well. This _is _Mark we're talking about," she said and glanced at her watch, "I should probably be getting home."

"Do you want me to walk with you?"

"I'd like that," she said and took his hand, lacing her fingers in his. He grinned as they walked up the path to Miley's house. Before Miley knew it, they were in front of her door. "I had a lot of fun today," she said.

"Yeah, me too." They leant in to kiss when Miley heard the bush behind Josh cough. She stopped and looked around to see her dad hiding behind it waggling his finger disapprovingly at her. Miley sighed loudly and turned back to Josh.

"Sorry. Paranoid dad," she indicated towards the bush.

Josh chuckled softly and said, "Yeah, I know the type. I'll see you at school then?"

"Yeah, I'll see you at school," she said and he held her close. He let go of her and set off down the road, turning around to wave at her before he disappeared around the bend. Miley glared at her dad as he stepped out from behind the bush. "Thanks a lot, Dad, really appreciate it." She glowered, and stomped up stairs to her bedroom.

She exchanged her shoes for some snazzy Elmo slippers and went outside on her balcony. After hopping up on the roof, she let the cool night breeze blow through her hair as she enjoyed the silence so she could reminisce on her evening. A car drove by. Footsteps were heard on the footpath. A rustling came from the vines that crept up the posts to her balcony. Miley closed her eyes and soaked the sounds in, the effect relaxing her. Then there was a sound that was rather annoying.

"Pssst!" She opened one eye in irritation and looked around in search for the noise. "Pssst!" The sound came again.

"Dang squirrels!" She yelled and threw a stone over the railing.

"OUCH!"

She ran over to the railing and saw Josh's hanging onto the vines, scowling and rubbing his head. Miley couldn't help but laugh as he pulled himself up.

"Yeah, yeah. Go ahead, laugh." He frowned and massaged his head.

"I'm sorry," she snickered and calmed herself down, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I felt bad that I couldn't say goodnight to you, but since it seems you don't like company," he said and swung his leg over the railing again, "I guess I'll just,"

"No!" she cried just as he was about to hop down. Josh smirked at her and jumped back onto her balcony. He stepped towards her and gave her a kiss.

"Goodnight," he murmured in her ear, sending chills down her spine. "Nice slippers by the way," he teased, and swiftly swung himself over the railing and out of sight.

Miley smiled inwardly, and heard her phone ringing from on her bed. No doubt it was Lily calling to see how everything had gone. After taking in one last breath of fresh air, she slipped into her room to satisfy Lily's thirst for detail.

**AN: Thank god I changed it. Also, you might ask where I got this story. And even since you probably didn't, I'll answer it anyway. **

**While visiting family in Brasil, I had a dream that was sort of like this but crazier, as dreams usually are. So I made some sense of it, elaborated it, made it awesome and BOOM! A story is born! So then I had OCD to write this.**

**I know MileyxOC isn't a favourite pairing, but I don't like Jake…or Nick Jonas (who decided they would be together?). So I had to do something about it.**

**So there's some little info for you**

**Also, reviews are GREATLY appreciated.**

**Thank you**

**Laura**


	4. Dates

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING IN THE STORY. ALL BELONGS TO DISNEY CHANNEL. Except Josh, he's mine. MWUAHAHA**

**Chapter 4: Dates**

**NOTE (October 27): I changed chapter 3. Josh is no longer in the band, I reread it, and hated it.**

**AN: This is a chapter talking about dates they go on demonstrating Miley and Josh's relationship. It's a bit all over the place, but there are some important parts. The main idea is that they are getting closer, and that Miley has to keep lying so Josh won't know her secret bla bla bla. Oh, also some Loliver for you Loliver shippers ******** I haven't decided if they end up together though. OK. ON with the story…**

"Next time, I'm picking the movie," Miley shuddered as they left the theatre.

"Why? Too scary for you?" Josh teased, tickling her ribs as he did so.

"If you must know, yes. Not _everyone _is the biggest fan of vampires."

"I wouldn't be sure of that. I happen to know that you're obsessed with that Edward guy from that Twilight book."

Miley blushed furiously. It was true, but then again, who didn't love Edward? "Who told you that?"

"A-ha! It _is_ true!" He yelled victoriously. Then a pout formed at his lip, "I'm hurt."

Miley rolled her eyes, "He's from a book. I can't do this to a book," she reached up to his face and kissed him gently.

"Point taken." Miley laughed and took his hand. They walked through the streets as the unnaturally cold summer night breeze made goose bumps rise along her bare arm and an involuntary shiver go own her spine. Josh unzipped his jacket and placed it around her shoulders, leaving him with just a t-shirt on. She smiled at him before gratefully shoving her arms through the arm holes and wrapping her arm around his waist. He placed his arms around her shoulders.

"Next time we're watching the Bratz movie," Miley teased. Josh smirked at her and zipped her jacket up all the way to the top. It was one of those jackets that the zipper went all the way up to the top of the hood, so Miley found herself staggering around in the complete darkness.

"Josh! I was just kidding! Get me out of this!" she cried when she found she couldn't undo the zipper because the sleeves of the jacket were too long. She could hear Josh laughing hysterically from outside of her cocoon. His laughing subsided and some light came in through the top of the hood. Josh was slowly undoing the jacket's zipper…painfully slowly. His eyes were revealed, then this nose, then his lips, and then his chin.

"Promise we won't watch the Bratz movie?"

"What Bratz movie?" Miley grinned. Josh laughed and kissed the tip of her nose, then took her hand again as they walked through the streets.

"Strike! That means Joley is in the lead," Josh cheered. Miley, Josh, Lily and Oliver had all gone to the bowling alley for some good fun. The teams were Joley vs. Lolly. Of course, Lily and Miley had come up with the names. Josh grinned and sat back down next to her. They giggled as they watched Oliver offer Lily some help, only to be pushed away (I can do it, let me do it!) Lily released the ball and it landed straight in the gutter. Oliver raised his eyebrow smugly at her.

"So bowling isn't my best sport," she spat and picked up another ball.

"Lily, let me help," Oliver offered again, "You can't lose this for me, those girls are watching," he added, indicating a few girls at the next lane. Lily rolled her eyes and focused on the ball. "Here," Oliver said and positioned himself behind Lily. "Just line it up, and release."

"Easier said than done," Lily muttered under her breath. She swung the ball back and released. The ball sped down the lane and hit all the pins down. Lily whooped and high-fived Miley. "See? I told you I was great at this."

"It's definitely an improvement, where'd you get that fire?" Oliver asked.

"Easy. I just pretended the pins were you." Oliver sighed and sat down next to Josh in the seat that Miley had just vacated to have her turn.

"Girls," he complained.

In the end Joley beat Lolly by a huge margin. Oliver sulked in his seat while Miley, Josh and Lily drank their soft drinks happily.

"We just let you win, right Lily?"

"Sure Oliver. Whatever you say," Miley said. "Ooh look, a turtle! Come with me, Josh!" she dragged Josh from the table and over to a claw machine. Oliver watched as Josh put a few quarters in the machine and toggled with the joystick.

He scowled and sunk lower in his seat. Lily was sitting next to him, looking equally as angry. "Oliver, just get over it! It's a bowling game! Besides, like those girls didn't like you anyway- oops." Oliver glared at her and took a loud sip on his soda. He looked over at Josh again, who had just presented the turtle to Miley. Miley beamed and kissed Josh, pressing his back against the machine. Oliver and Lily sighed simultaneously.

They looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes and when their eyes met they looked away again. Oliver glanced over at Lily again, who was looking at him again too. This time they didn't look away. They both leaned over to each other. Their lips touched for a moment before they immediately pulled away again.

Lily, her eyes screwed up tight, said, "Never mention this again."

"Agreed," Oliver said and wiped his lips.

"Hey look it's a squirrel!" Oliver said, pointing to a small squirrel on the corner of their picnic rug. Oliver, Lily, Miley and Josh had decided to take that Friday afternoon off for a picnic on the beach.

"Come here, come here little guy," Oliver held out a peanut to the squirrel. "come here you cute little- OW!" the squirrel had bitten Oliver on the finger and stolen away with the peanut.

"RABIES!" Oliver cried, "RABIES! Lily, I'm gonna get rabies!"

Lily groaned and helped Oliver up. "Let me take you up to the life guard house. I'm sure he can kiss it better." Oliver rolled his eyes and followed Lily up the beach.

"What was a squirrel doing on the beach anyway?" Miley asked.

"It's a sea squirrel." Josh grinned and popped a grape in his mouth. "Come on," he said and got up, "lets go for a swim." He pulled off his shirt and cap and Miley got up and stripped down to her bathing suit. Josh grabbed her hand and they ran together into the sea.

They were up to their waists in water when a wave came and dunked them under the water, and they came up spluttering, the salt burning in their eyes. She wiped the water out of her eyes and looked over at Josh who had adorned a bunch of seaweed as a hat. She laughed, and he rolled her eyes at her and pulled it off him. She paddled to over where he was and into his arms. He gave her a soft kiss which she happily returned and held him closer.

Back on the beach Lily and Oliver had come back from the life guard house. "See, Oliver? I told you, you wouldn't get rabies."

"Yeah, yeah. Hey look," he said pointing out to where Josh and Miley were sharing an intimate moment.

"Awww. Isn't that cute? Wouldn't it be a shame if we interrupted?"

"Yeah…shame. Lets get em!" They both ran down to the water's edge and pulled Miley and Josh under. Miley got up and shot a glance at Josh.

"Revenge?" she asked him.

"Oh yeah."

"Ugh," Miley groaned and flopped down on the couch next to her father. She was dressed in her Hannah getup, ready for a CD signing in the mall.

"What's wrong, bud?"

"I had to lie to Josh…again!"

"What was it this time?"

"Annual Stewart family hotdog eating contest…yummy!" she said sarcastically.

Robbie looked thoughtful, "you know…that's actually a pretty good idea. I'll call uncle Earl and organize everything..."

"Dad!"

He sat back down and placed a comforting arm around her, "When do you plan on telling this boy, if ever?"

"But Dad, I can't! You remember what happened with Jake! It was a disaster! And…I don't want that to happen again," she added sadly.

"Well it's your decision. Just think about this: Jake was Jake. Not Josh." Robbie got up from the couch and went upstairs. In the meantime, Miley had some thinking to do. Her father was right, but how could she be sure that Josh would be different? She bit her lip and furrowed her brow. It was time to give someone a call.

He picked up on the first ring.

"Hey Miley, what's up?"

"Hey Josh. Listen…there's something I need to tell you."

"Yeah?"

"It's that I'm…I'm…looking forward to going to your house tomorrow."

"Oh. That's great then. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah. See you tomorrow."

"Bye."

"Bye." She clicked the phone off and held her head in her hands. _Coward, _she thought.

**Reviews are appreciated wink, wink, nudge, nudge.**


	5. Neverland

"I want that one!" Josh cried when a car drove past, "No- that one! No- that one!" He said as more drove past. Miley was perched on her roof, Josh's arm in its fixed place around her shoulders.

"Have you noticed that all those cars happen to be fast, expensive and dangerous?" she asked.

"Relax, it's not like I'll ever be able to afford one. It's nice to dream though. Besides- wait. I think I've made up my mind." His eyes were fixed on the street below them. She followed his gaze and saw two shiny, big, black motorcycles were pulling into their drive way, their engines blowing loudly. The thought she recognized one of the riders…

"Jerry?" Miley said to herself, "Jerry!" she yelled in excitement and jumped down on her veranda.

"Jerry? Who's Jerry?" Josh asked and tore off after her.

She ran down the stairs and skidded to a halt at the front door. The first biker kicked off his ignition and removed his helmet, revealing a man in his late twenties with flaming red hair and several piercings.

"Jerry!" Miley squealed and ran into his arms, giving him a squeezing hug.

"Hey there Miles," he said and hugged her tightly too. The second biker had taken off his helmet and stood behind Jerry. He was younger than Jerry, but his hair was the same flaming red.

"I don't believe it; is that little Miley?" He said in wonder.

"Mike!" she yelled in excitement and hugged him too. "It's been so long," she said.

"Yeah, I haven't seen you since you were seven. I remember you used to run around in our paddle pool nak-"

"So what brings you guys here?" she quickly interrupted.

"Well we were in the neighborhood and decided to pop in."

Josh coughed loudly from behind them. They all turned and looked at him.

"Oh, sorry. Don't mind me."

Miley pulled Josh next to her and said, "Jerry, Mike: this is Josh. Josh; these are my old neighbors, Jerry and Mike."

"Hi," Josh said and shook hands with them. "Nice rides," he said and examined their bikes.

"I know, right?" Mike said and looked at his bike lovingly. "I could take you guys for a spin if you want."

"Really? That would be so cool!" Josh cried, looking like a child on Christmas morning.

"Will you come, Jerry?" Miley asked.

"Maybe next time. I'm going to catch up with your old man if you don't mind," he said and entered the house.

Miley shrugged and said, "Oh well."

Josh's face fell. "How are we going to ride with three people on one bike?"

"Oh there's a simple solution to that, my friend," Mike said and turned his bike to the side, revealing the unexposed side.

"Oh no," Josh whimpered.

On a usual occasion, Josh would've thoroughly enjoyed riding on a speeding motorcycle, the wind rushing through his hair, Miley holding tightly onto him. He would have, had he actually been on the bike. A grumble escaped his lips and the hot metal of the underside of the bike burned next to his face.

"You right there?" Mike asked from the bike.

"Yeah. Just peachy," he scowled from his confined position in the side car. The wind whipped at his face, hot exhaust fumes blew against his arm, and the road rushing below him was unnerving to say the least. And it had just gotten worse. "I think I swallowed a bug," he said to no one in particular. He looked up at Miley, a cross expression on his face. The expression disappeared when he saw her looking back at him.

She had her arms at Mike's side and her head against his back, a tired but happy look on her face. She gave him a smile and reached her hand down to him. He smiled warmly and took it gladly. At least the ride wasn't completely awful, in fact, he began to enjoy it. All too soon, they pulled into the driveway and Mike kicked the engine off. He dismounted the bike and helped Miley down. When Josh moved to get up he found he was stuck.

"Uh…guys? Little help?" Miley ran over and gave him her hand. After a moment, he was pried free. "Thanks… that was embarrassing." She grinned and kissed him and pulled him into the house where they found Robbie and Jerry on the edge of the couch dressed in Tennessee Titans colors. Mike jumped on the couch excitedly just in time to yell 'TOUCHDOOOOWWWNNNN' with Robbie and Jerry.

Miley rolled her eyes and walked over to the DVD closet, making sure to walk extra slow when she went past the T.V. She opened the door and pulled out 'The notebook'. Josh wrinkled his nose and pulled out '300'. Miley grimaced and retrieved 'Finding Neverland'. Josh raised his eyebrows, considering the option, smiled and nodded.

Miley grinned and pulled some microwave popcorn out of the pantry and popped it into the microwave. While they waited for the two minutes required to successfully pop popcorn, Josh played absentmindedly with Miley's hair, listening to the score of the game. After the popcorn was done and they had poured it into a bowl, they went up to Miley's room and sat on her bed. Josh got up, put the DVD in and sat back down, leaning against the headrest and extending his legs. Miley sighed and cuddled up against his chest, popping a piece of popcorn in his mouth.

It was nighttime and they were halfway through the movie when Miley's eyelids began to grow heavy. Just as Peter Pan was about to fly, she gave in to sleep and closed her eyes. Josh looked down to see Miley fast asleep. A smile formed at his lips as he slid out from under her, placed a blanket around her and stopped the movie. He knelt down next to the bed, watching her sleep. She blew out some air between her lips, making a small raspberry noise.

Josh's heart warmed at the image, and smiled while playing with her hair. He loved to do that. Sounds from downstairs snapped him out of his trance and he looked at the clock. It was late. He planted a kiss on her forehead and whispered in her ear, "I love you," Before slipping outside.

Miley slept with a smile on her face.

Miley lazily opened her eyes and yawned widely. Sun was gently illuminating the room through a crack in the blinds and the smell of cooking breakfast wafted in from the kitchen. She took a long sniff and followed the mouthwatering scent to the kitchen, where she found Josh hidden behind a pile of dirty dishes.

"That smells _really _good."

Josh gave a small jump in surprise. "Oh, you're awake," he said and smiled.

"Yup…and you're cooking."

"Yeah," he took a look around the cluttered kitchen, "messily."

"I can clean it up later." Miley washed her face while Josh spooned out bacon and eggs onto some plates and poured some orange juice.

"That looks really god," she said, but her nose crinkled at a pungent smell, "what's that smell?"

His eyes opened in shock, "That would be the toast burning." He hopped over to the counter and hurriedly took out the blackened toast.

"Did it survive?"

"Um…just a minute." Miley sipped on her juice as she watched Josh busy himself at the counter. "Lovely," he said, satisfied. He carried over a placemat and placed a piece of toast on Miley's plate. "Presto! It's happy to see you."

Miley looked down at the toast and couldn't help but giggle into her juice when she saw he had carved a smiley face in the black of the toast. "A chef _and _an artist? I'm impressed." Josh chuckled, sat down and they began to eat. "Where did you sleep last night?"

"I went back to my place. I think your house is a bit full, what with Jerry and Mike. Also, I don't think your dad would appreciate my sleeping over without prior notice."

"Ok then. Speaking of my dad, where is he?"

"He said something about going for a jog."

"Oh, he'll be back real soon then. What about Mike and Jerry?"

"I don't know; haven't seen them all morning."

"Oh well," Miley shrugged and continued eating.

"So, we have the whole Sunday to ourselves, what do you want to do?"

"Do you want to invite Lily and Oliver over?"

**Meanwhile…**

Speaking of Lily and Oliver, they happened to be together at the time, making out furiously.

"This doesn't mean ANYTHING!" Lily said when they broke apart.

"Nope, not a thing. I understand, you can't help that I'm irresistible."

"Something like that," she muttered, rolling her eyes, "now shutup and kiss me!"

"Gladly." Lily embraced Oliver again and pressed her lips against his. Just then, the phone rang.

Grumbling, Lily answered, "Hello?"

"Morning!"

"Hey Miley."

"Do you and Oliver want to come over?"

"Sure."

"I called Oliver, but I don't think he's home. Do you know where he is?"

"Uh, he's at my place."

"Your place? Doing what?"

"Um…he wanted to show me his….uh…new turtle!" Oliver slapped his hand to his forehead.

"A turtle? Um…ok then we'll see you later!" Miley let out a breath of relief and clicked the phone shut.

"A turtle?" Oliver asked raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, I was under pressure!"

"Lets just hope she doesn't ask about it, ok?"


	6. Trapped

**Monday…**

Miley, Lily and Oliver were talking in the hallway before school when it happened.

"So what's your new turtle called, Oliver?" Miley asked.

Oliver exchanged glances with Lily. "Um…I called it…turtle-y."

"Right. You never were the creative type."

"See what I meant when I said it's harder under pressure?" Lily hissed at him.

"Oh shut up, this is different," he whispered back.

"Um, is there something weird going on between you two?"

"No!" they both said in unison. Suddenly Lily's eyes turned large and her mouth gaped open.

"What? Have I got something in my teeth?" Miley asked and ran her tongue over her teeth.

A low chuckle came from behind her, "I don't think it's that." Lily said. Miley turned around and almost fainted. Her knees went weak and she fell back on Oliver, who pushed her right back up again.

"Jake!" she gasped, "Wha-what are you doing here?"

"Well…I said I'd come back...so now I'm back." There he was. In all his bastardness, but still unbelievably cute.

"Oh. So soon?"

"Well…who says real life doesn't have happy endings?" He said and went in to kiss her, but Miley leant back.

"Not everyone gets their happy ending, Jake," she whispered.

Jake was still uncomfortably close to her. "What do you mean?"

She pushed him back. "I mean what I said, Jake. Did you think I would wait for you forever?"

"There's someone else, isn't there?" he said, looking hurt.

"Hey Miley," Josh came up from behind Jake and stood next to him.

"Awkward," Lily said, took Oliver and left.

"Who's your friend?" Josh continued.

Miley took Josh by the hand. "Jake, this is Josh. Josh, this is Jake."

"Nice to meet you," Josh said and stuck out his hand. Jake didn't take it.

"You don't know me?"

"Um…should I?"

"Jake Ryan, Zombie high…anything ring a bell?"

Josh thought for a moment, "Nope." Jake looked disgruntled at the revelation. Just then, the bell rang for class to start.

"I'll see you in English, Miley," he said and gave her a quick kiss. He nodded to Jake and disappeared down the hallway.

"Well…I'll see you around, Jake," she said and headed off to class. Jake followed. "What are you doing?"

"Going to class."

"Oh," she said, slightly embarrassed.

"Does he know?" he continued.

"Know what?"

"Your secret."

Miley frowned. "That's none of your business."

"I'm guessing no then," he said smugly. "I'm touched, Miley."

"Touched? About what?"

"You still like me, and Josh is just there to fill the gap until I came back, am I right?"

Miley couldn't help but laugh, "I'm sorry Jake, but you're clearly mistaken. I don't like you anymore, can't we just be friends?"

Jake's expression suddenly turned dark. "Friends? I don't do fiends. I'm not giving you up, Miley." He said and stopped her, backing her into the corner making Miley feel uneasy.

"Jake, what do you mean?"

"I mean what I said. We will be together, you'll see."

"Go away, Jake," she said and pushed past him. As she looked back at him she said, "You haven't changed." She turned on her heel and strode away. Little did she know of the wicked smile that had just formed on Jake's lips.

"So how do you know Jake?" Josh asked at lunch.

"Jake? Oh…he's an old friend…sort of."

"Sort of?"

"Well…we used to go out."

"Oh. Ok then." He looked down, a frown on his face.

"That was a long time ago, don't worry."

"No it's not that…Yeah. I think I've heard of him. I just can't remember where from. I'll figure it out eventually." He took another bite of his sandwich and looked around, "Have you seen Oliver and Lily?"

**Trapped: a Lily and Oliver subchapter**

**Meanwhile, in a nearby closet…**

"Oliver!" Lily gasped, out of breath, "I never knew you could be so passionate!"

"I can be a lot of things." He paused, "Could one of them be your boyfriend?" he asked, looking hopeful. The mood was destroyed. Lily frowned and backed away from him, silence hanging in the air.

"Oliver, we've been through this, we can't go out," she finally said.

"Why not?"

"Because! Whenever feelings are brought into something, it…it just wrecks it."

"But Lily-"

"No Oliver! Don't you see? You're ruining it! We have a great thing here-"

"What 'thing'? Just making out all the time? That's not a 'thing', that's… a nothing. Why don't you trust me? This _can_ work! Don't you see Miley and Josh all the time? Don't you see how happy they are? Don't you want that, Lily?"

"Oliver, I'm sorry…"

"No, I'm sorry. Sorry I even kissed you in the first place. I'm out. I'm sick of pretending," he said again and reached for the handle. It didn't move. He jiggled it harder. Still, it didn't budge.

"We're stuck in here, aren't we?" she said and sat on an upturned crate.

"Yes." He scowled and also sat on a crate, his arms crossed. Several minutes passed in the silence. The bell rang and the sound of kids shouting went past. Oliver kicked and banged futilely at the door, hoping someone would hear. Nothing happened. He sighed and sat back down, returning to the silence which was only broken by the loud rumbling of Lily's stomach.

Oliver drew a muesli bar out of his pocket. "Here," he grumbled, stretching his hand out to hers.

"No thanks, I'm not hungry," she lied.

"No really. I don't want it." Lily took it, broke it in half and gave the other half back. "Thanks," he said and nibbled off the corner.

"Do you think we're going to die in here?"

Oliver gave a small laugh shook his head. "They'll find us sooner or later."

"Oh." The silence returned and they nibbled off of their Muesli bars.

"Lily-"

"Oliver-" they said at the same time.

"Listen, Oliver. I'm sorry. Really," Lily started.

"Yeah. Sure."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You say you're sorry, but you sure don't act it."

"What am I supposed to do, huh? What do you want from me?"

"I want you to give me a chance, that's what I want!"

"Have you thought about what _I _want?"

"Yes! All the time. The problem is that I just don't know what that is. And I don't think you do either." Lily refused to meet his gaze. "What do you want Lily? What do you want from me? Anything. I'll give it to you."

Lily bit her lip. "I want you…I want you to leave me alone."

Oliver froze. After a long pause he finally said, "Fine. If that's what you want." After a moment he gave a dry laugh, "this must be torture for you then?"

"Not in the way you think," she muttered so Oliver couldn't hear. He stood up and hammered at the door again.

"There's got to be a way out."

"Let me try," Lily said and stood up. Oliver gave her a wide bearing as she stood up to the door. She turned the handle and pushed the door. Nothing. She turned the handle again and pulled the door. It swung open freely.

"Oliver, you idiot! You were opening it the wrong way!"

**AN: This was my favourite chapter to write :) **

**It's my birthday is in... counts days 60 days... I like reviews wink, wink :P**

**I hope you're enjoying my story :)**


	7. Brains and hearts

"What are you thinking about?" Josh asked. They were on the same cliff they had been on on their first date. It had turned out to be sort of their place. Miley was in between his legs, her back against his chest, playing with a stray string on her skirt.

"Hum? Oh. Nothing. It's just…nothing." She had lied. She was thinking about something. What had Jake meant before? _We will be together; _his words still rang in her ears. He was different…cold. What was he going to do? Miley was afraid; Jake _did_ have some leverage on her.

"Are you sure? The whole day you've been acting kind of distracted. Is something on your mind?"

Miley sighed. "It's nothing really. Just Jake coming back; it took me by surprise, that's all."

"Sorry, but if you don't mind me asking, what happened between you two?"

"I don't really know, we ended on good terms though. I think we were just too different. So we decided to break up."

"Well…I'm glad you did," he said sheepishly. Miley laughed and kissed the bottom if his cheekbone.

"I am too. But-"

"But?"

"Yes, but. He's acting a little differently lately," she said, shifting in her position so she could face him.

"Different?"

"Yeah…kind of weird."

"What did he do?"

Miley shook her head, regretting what she had said. She felt it would be better if Josh didn't know about what Jake had said. "Nothing really," she said slowly, "just…different. Distant."

"What's his story anyway? And what is zombie high?"

"You don't know? Zombie high is a TV show, Jake starred in it, he's an actor. He's been in movies too, I can't believe you haven't heard of him, he's a celebrity."

"You dated a celebrity? Aw man, now I feel bad," he pouted.

"Don't feel bad, you know how stuck up celebrities can be," she said, shoving him playfully.

Josh shrugged and smiled at her. "No, actually, I don't. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting any celebrities, Miss Superstar."

Miley shrugged; she was feeling uneasy with the conversation topic and decided it was best to change the subject as soon as possible. She turned around to face him, her legs crossed. "You want to know what I've always wondered?"

"No, I do not. What might that be?"

"I've always wondered why hearts are associated with love. It's a bit strange."

"That's a good question." Josh thought for a moment. "Want to know what I think?" Miley nodded. "You need your heart to live, right? Well, if you give someone your heart, you're essentially giving them yourself."

"Confusing…but it makes sense. But what about your brain?"

Josh shrugged. "I dunno. I guess they just decided to make it the heart. If you prefer, I can give you my brain," he said simply. "And speaking of giving," he said and reached into his backpack, which lay beside him, and pulled something out. "Close your eyes and hold your hands out." Miley did so. She felt Josh place something light and papery in her hands. "Alright, you can open your eyes."

With excitement, Miley opened them, a big grin on her face. That grin immediately disappeared. In her hands were two Hannah Montana concert tickets. She didn't say anything. "I- you- how?" she finally said when she found her voice.

"Do you like them?"

Miley swallowed. No. She didn't like them, they could ruin everything. The thought of throwing them into the wind didn't seem too bad at the moment. But, of course, she couldn't. "Yes, of course I do."

"So do you want to go with me?"

"Um…" _think of a lie, _"You see…" _Lie, bitch! Lie like you've never lied before! _"Well, I don't like Hannah Montana….and I don't think my Dad will let me go." She cringed at the silence that came from Josh.

A brief look of disappointment crossed his face. "Oh. Alright then. That's ok, if your Dad won't let you, I can take someone else if you don't want to go," he mumbled.

"I'm sorry."

His frown was replaced with his usual comforting smile, "it's ok. I can take my sister, she'll love it."

"Thanks for understanding," she said, still feeling awfully guilty, yet deeply grateful at the same time.

Josh shrugged. "Maybe next time, aye?"

Miley nodded. "Maybe."

**AN: I had to put this chapter in. Hehe. It's short, I know. The whole hearts vs brain conversation they had actually came from a conversation I had with myself this morning. I think it's a good point. What's with hearts?**


	8. What a Woman

The next three days passed painfully slowly for Miley. The suspense and anxiety was killing her inside, and she was always on edge, expecting Jake to do something terrible. But he never did. All he would do was sneer at her, a wicked smile on his face, as though he knew something she didn't. Miley hid her worries from Josh as well as she could, but he suspected something was wrong. She became jumpy and stressed, always looking over her shoulder. To make matters worse, Lily and Oliver weren't talking, not even looking at each other.

At lunch one day, Oliver brought over a friend. "Hello," he said and sat down, his friend sat down next to him. "This is Taylor." Taylor smiled at them all and they all greeted her warmly- that is, Miley and Josh did, Lily just frowned at her, mumbled something inaudible and looked down at her feet.

As lunch went on, Miley came to the conclusion that Oliver and Taylor were more than 'friends'. She looked at them make goo-goo eyes at each other and feed each other. It was a bit overdone, and made the atmosphere a little awkward. Taylor and Oliver weren't even paying attention; they were off in their own little world.

"Well, at least he's happy," Miley whispered to Lily. In response, Lily broke her fork. Miley glanced over at Oliver for a moment and thought she saw him raise his eyebrows at Lily. She shook her head and blinked her eyes. It was then that Oliver decided to scoop Taylor up into his lap.

Lily's face was livid. She slammed down her tray and mumbled, "I'm not hungry," before getting up and storming away.

"Aw, Lily!" Oliver called after her, "why don't you join us? We were having so much fun!"

Taylor frowned at him as realization dawned upon her. She looked at Oliver with wide eyes. "Was this all for her? You don't like me?"

"Aw, come on, Tay."

Taylor slapped him across the cheek and got off him. "Jerk," she said and stalked off.

"What did you do?" Josh asked in astonishment. Oliver shrugged and looked at his shoes, ashamed.

Miley bit her lip and looked through the door that Lily had just walked out of. "I'm going to go talk to her, I'll see you later." She followed where Lily had gone and headed for the girls' bathroom, suspecting that was where Lily would go. Little did she know of the certain celebrity that had gotten up just after her. She was just about to turn into the girls' bathroom when a strong arm pulled her into an empty classroom. The owner of the arm placed his hand over her mouth and wrapped his other arm around her body so she couldn't move. She struggled against him as he backed up against a wall and spun her around to face him, both of his arms pinning her.

"Hello, Miley."

"Jake, let me go!" she said and pushed forward, but she wasn't strong enough.

He laughed softly. "And why would I want to do that?"

"Knock it off, Jake. Quit it with the whole 'evil villain' thing."

"Villain? I like it," he said and flashed a grin. Inside Miley's brain, the sarcastic voice said that things were getting a little too cliché. But Miley's fear of being molested by Jake was dominant at that moment. "But enough of this talk; let's get down to business."

Miley swallowed, "Business?"

"Yes. You didn't think I'd leave you alone to frolic with Cullings, did you? If you did, then you are clearly mistaken."

"What do you want?" she snarled.

"One date."

"That's one too many."

"_Or _I could, oh I don't know, tell the press your secret, in turn notifying your precious boyfriend that you have been lying to him all along. Since I _do _have every news channel on speed dial," he said and whipped out his cell phone, his finger precariously positioned on the 'call' button.

"No!" she gasped.

He turned his head back towards her. "No? Are you sure?"

She sighed. "One date," she said, emphasizing the 'one'. "But: no dinner, no lunch, no breakfast, no dancing, no movies, no giving me things, nothing out of the city, and nothing public."

"Aww, that's no fun."

"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll find a way to sleaze it up." She pushed past his arms once again, and this time he let her past.

Miley walked down the hallways and stopped outside of the cafeteria, numb. It was just one date, right? One date. Nothing more. Just One date. One. Date. She kept repeating it in her mind until she had convinced herself. She took a deep breath, composed herself, and walked back to the table. She sat down next to Josh and took a slow, deliberate sip of her orange juice.

Josh bent low in front of her face, making eye contact unavoidable. "Miley? Is something wrong?"

"Yeah, how's Lily?" Oliver cut in.

"Lily?" Miley paused for a moment, "Oh, Lily. I… I couldn't find her," she mumbled and fumbled with the zipper on her back pack. It seemed as though all the courage she had had with Jake had vanished, and now she was a quivering lump of jelly; defenseless and weak.

"Miley, are you sure you're ok? Did something happen?"

Miley shook her head. "No. I'm fine; everything's fine." He raised his eyebrows worriedly at her. "Trust me," she added. And kissed him comfortingly on the cheek- at least she hoped it was comforting. "And Oliver? What's going on?"

Josh shrugged, "he hasn't said anything." Miley looked Oliver, who was gently running his finger tips along the pieces of the fork Lily had broken.

"Oliver? Oliver, are you alright?" Miley said and reached out to touch Oliver's hand. He remained unresponsive for a moment.

"I messed up, didn't I?" he asked himself softly. A smile suddenly formed at his lips. "But…she likes me."

**Later that night**

"I'll get it," Oliver called when the doorbell rang. He put down the magazine he was reading and went over to open the door. "Lily?"

"No, it's your mum," she said and rolled her eyes, leaving them in an awkward silence.

"So…how are you feeling?"

"Honestly?" Oliver nodded. "Ok then." She put her finger to her chin and said, "hm…how am I feeling, how am I feeling? Oh yeah," she drew her hand back and slapped him in the face.

"Ow!"

"You deserved it."

"No I- well yeah, I probably did," a grin formed at his lips, "but you have feelings for me, I know it."

"Ugh, Oliver! Get that thought out of your head before your ego can get any bigger."

"Come on, say it's not true. Say you don't love me. Say you don't care for me. Say you hate me. Go on, I deserve it, remember?"

"I slapped you, isn't that enough?"

"You never said you didn't care for me."

"Fine, maybe you need another reminder." With that, she stomped on his foot. The arrogant smile was still on his face.

"It's going to take a lot more than that."

Lily sighed. "You're right, Oliver. I surrender. You're just too damn irresistible," she said seductively and placed her hand on his chest.

"I knew it." The seductive expression on Lily's face was replaced by a mischievous one. She found the center of his chest, grabbed his shirt and pulled as hard as she could; taking along with her the few chest hairs that had sprouted on his chest.

"No!" Oliver yelped and clutched at his chest, tears springing to his eyes. "You're mean," he whimpered.

"Serves you right," she said and turned on her heel to leave.

"Lily, wait!" Oliver called after her, took her by the arm and spun her around. He sighed. "Lily…I'm sorry. I'm sorry I've been such a jerk, and…I'm just sorry." Lily looked at him, arms folded. "So…that's it. I'll leave you alone now…forever!" he said. He spun dramatically and landed on the porch swing, his hand to his forehead and his eyes closed. He heard Lily's walk over and sit in the white, wooden chair that was next to the patio swing. Opening one eye, he spied her sitting with her head rested on her hand, a thoughtful look on her face.

After a moment's silence Oliver said, "You know, this really isn't helping with the whole 'forever' thing."

Lily shook her head. "Forever's a long time. I'd miss you; you've grown on me…like a fungus. An extremely annoying fungus." She got up and walk off, turning to say, "see you tomorrow…jerk," she added, and with that, she walked down the steps and disappeared out of sight.

Oliver, still on the swing, sighed and pressed his hands to his forehead, pushing his long bangs out of the way. "What a woman," he breathed and shook his head in disbelief.

**I like this chapter, I hope you did too. How about you let me know what you thought by reviewing?**

**Cheers**

**Laura**


	9. Deception

Miley breathed deep breaths in anxiety; it was almost time for her date with Jake. For her own self satisfaction, she was wearing sweats and a ripped T-shirt; what was the point of dressing up for Jake? In fact, she had taken the extreme measure of eating a clove of garlic a few hours before, hoping to ward Jake off.

She twisted a loose string on a pillow of her as she sat on the edge of the couch. Even the thought of Jake made her queasy; why had he changed so much? They could have been great friends. Miley guessed he couldn't take losing, being the egomaniac he was. Miley jumped when the doorbell rang loudly. She composed herself and opened the door. Jake stood there, a sly grin on his face.

"What are you smiling about?" she said, making sure to waft the garlic scent over to him.

Jake crinkled his nose and looked Miley up and down. "Get changed," he said- well ordered actually.

"Excuse me?" Miley asked, taken aback.

"You heard me, go get changed. You look," he paused, "and smell like a homeless person. Jake Ryan doesn't date homeless people." Miley raised her eyebrow. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

"A good reason too change. I like it this way, it feels so…relaxed."

"Oh, you want a reason? Well then, I think it's time I call my good friend channel five."

"Fine!"

"Another stunt like this, Miley, and I won't hesitate to push 'call'"

"You're all talk."

"You think so? Try me."

In the end, Miley went up to her room and threw on a pair of jeans and a nice shirt- but not too nice. She quickly brushed her teeth and applied some lip gloss and mascara. She knew she would have to make the date good…make Jake believe she was having fun. Miley knew he wouldn't hesitate to tell everyone her secret, and she didn't want that to happen. After making sure she looked presentable, Miley trudged back downstairs to find Jake perched on the couch, examining her.

"Much better," he said and licked his lips.

"Um…thanks. Where are we going?"

"Well…you said nowhere public…so I thought we'd go to my house."

_That sounds safe, _Miley thought. "Ok then." Jake led her outside, where his limo was parked. She reached out for the door, but was blocked off by Jake's hand.

"A word to _anyone _about thisand I talk. Am I clear?"

"What you mean that you're blackmailing me? Chrystal," she seethed.

"Good." He opened the door for her and Miley slipped in.

The limo was quiet. Miley stared blankly out the window, avoiding eye contact, and Jake drummed his fingers on his knees.

"I didn't ask to be like this…I didn't have a choice," Jake finally said.

Miley looked at him in repulsion. "What?! It's not like _I _had a choice in going out with you! Tell me how you didn't have a choice."

"Well…I care about you too much to let you go."

"You care about me? And you think this is helping? You're pushing me away, Jake."

Jake smiled, "You think that now, but soon you'll see…soon."

Miley gave out an exasperated sigh, and was about to retort when she realized she wasn't helping with her plan to make him happy. Slipping on a flirtatious face, she slid closer to him. "Maybe you're right, Jake."

"I always am."

"You're so smart," she said, gagging on the inside. Jake grinned victoriously and put his arm around Miley. Minutes later, the limo pulled up in the driveway of a huge house. "This is where you live?" Miley asked, her jaw dropping. They were in front of a gigantic, white house, with a green front garden filled with vibrant flowers. There were two garden beds on either side of the garden, a carpet of grass with stepping stones passing through the middle. Blue and purple lights lit up the garden in the night's darkness.

"Yup," Jake said. He grinned at Miley and clapped his hands. On the edges of the garden beds, jets of water sprouted up and formed arks over the grass in the middle. It was like a tunnel made by water.

Miley couldn't help but laugh, "clap-on water jets? Ok, that is _so _cheesy in the coolest way." Jake smiled and took Miley by the hand, leading her through the tunnel. Miley looked up in wonder. "How come it doesn't come down?"

"I don't know," Jake said and shrugged dismissively. Jake led her inside his house and into the living room. It was huge, with white walls and red rugs and couches. Above ware red and white balls hanging on wire coming down, so they looked like they were floating.

"Nice decoration."

"Thanks, my mum did it. Here, sit down." Miley sat on the red couch next to Jake. Jake reached under the couch and pulled out a box. "Are you up for some scrabble?"

After two games of scrabble, a movie, and a pizza brought by Jake's butler, Alfred, Miley and Jake were back on the couch again.

"You know, I'm actually enjoying myself. When you show the nice Jake, I'm actually able to stand you."

Jae ignored the last comment "I'm glad you are enjoying yourself."

"I'm amazed you weren't a complete bastard for almost four whole hours."

"Thanks…"

Miley sighed. "Don't you see? We were able to have fun together without actually _being _together. Wouldn't it be better that way?"

Jake shook his head. "Not for me." He sighed, "you don't know how crazy I am about you. I'm still in love with you."

"Got a strange way of showing it," Miley muttered under her breath, but Jake didn't notice and he kept talking.

"It's torture for me to see you with _him._"

Miley was beginning to feel irritated. "Sorry, Jake. You had your chance." It was like pulling off a Band-Aid: rip it off fast; pulling it off will hurt more.

"Can't I have just one more?" Apparently he didn't get the whole Band-Aid theory.

"No, Jake," she said firmly.

"What do you see in him anyway?" he asked disgustedly. "What has he got that I don't have?"

Miley scowled. "Well for one thing, he has a sense of ethics and doesn't go around kidnapping girls forcing them to date him!" she said angrily.

Jake was silent for a while, looking hurt. He looked down at his knee and frowned. "You can go if you want," he finally said, "I know you're only here so I won't give away your secret. Go on, go back to _him_...could I just ask you for one thing?"

Miley wavered for a moment. Was Jake for real? Hesitantly, she agreed, "Ok, what is it?"

"Kiss me."

"Jake, I don't-"

"Please," he cut her off, "just one last time. I'll make it quick."

He scooted closer to Miley, a pleading look in his eyes. Miley bit her lip, and nodded. She froze, perfectly still, as Jake moved forward. When his lips touched hers, she made herself immune to everything around her. Jake started off gently, and then crushed his lips harder to hers. Still, Miley waited for it to end. He ravenously attacked her lips with no mercy. He pulled back, suddenly, an annoyed expression on his face.

"You could at least _pretend _to like it." Without waiting for a response, he went back to her lips. His hand found his way around her neck and pulled Miley closer (if that was possible). It was then that Miley found herself kissing Jake back. Her hands slowly moved up his back and tousled his hair. He smiled against her lips and hungrily kissed her neck and cheeks. A subconscious voice screamed out for Miley to stop, but she was in a different world.

She was so confused; what was going on? _Stop! Stop! Stop! _Her subconscious screamed at her. Jake wrapped his arm around her back, pressing his body on top of hers. _For God's sake, he's MOLESTING you!_ Miley pulled away, out of breath, and gasped. For an instant, she had seen Josh's face. Immediately, her subconscious thoughts were voiced.

"Stop it," she said, still trembling. "I…I have to go." She picked up her back and turned on her heel to leave.

"Aw, come on, Miley! Don't pretend you didn't like it!" Jake called after her from the couch. "Bah, forget it. She'll be back," he sighed and sat back in his couch, folding his hands behind his neck.

"Good show, Jake my boy," Alfred said, appearing from the kitchen.

"Who's the man?"

Alfred sighed, "You are, sir."

The bitter wind nipped at her legs and tear stained face. She pulled her jacket closer to her body and wiped her eyes against the collar. Miley didn't even know where she was going, and soon found herself at her front door. She shook her head violently and pulled out her keys, letting her in.

"Miley are you-" he dad began.

"I'm fine," she mumbled and walked quickly up to her room. She dumped her things on the ground and crashed onto her bed, holding her head in her hands breathing deeply. "Oh God, oh God, oh God," she repeated over and over. From her purse on the ground her cell phone chimed, announcing that she had received a text message. Wiping the stray tears on her cheeks, she reached forward and flipped her phone open.

It was from Jake:

_I'll see you on Wednesday._

Miley felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. That lying bastard; she knew that she couldn't get off that easily. Another date; imagine what he might do. And then after that there would be a third date, and a fourth, and a fifth, until…Miley's eyes widened in terror…until Josh would find out. Miley wondered how long she could do it; how long she could lie to him.

It was time to decide what was more important: her secret or her boyfriend.


	10. GNI

Luckily, on the next date Jake didn't do anything like the last time. Sure, he had tried, but Miley had managed to avoid most of it at least. Things seemed safe with Jake; he didn't look like he would talk…yet. Jake had made another date that Saturday:

"_Saturday?"_

_Saturday. She was supposed to go to the movies with Josh on Saturday. "But I'm going somewhere with J-" she protested only to be cut off._

"_So you'll go? There's nothing on? Great," he said and glared at her, making sure his meaning was clear. Miley had to cancel._

She prodded at her lunch with her food, her head rested against her cheek.

"Miley, are you ok?" Josh asked.

She looked up, "Yeah…I'm fine. Just one thing…could we postpone the movies to another day? Something came up."

Josh shrugged, "Ok then. How about Sunday?"

_Dang, Hannah has a photo shoot. _"I can't; Jackson has a volleyball game out of town, Dad says I have to go." Even though Miley had become much better at lying, it still didn't feel any better; if anything, it made her feel worse.

"Oh…wish him luck for me then." She looked up at him, and he put on a grin. She gave him a small smile and hugged him tightly, burying her head in his chest.

"Thank you," she whispered, "and I'm sorry."

He pulled Miley away by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Don't be. There's nothing to be sorry for. Ok?" Miley bit her lip and nodded.

Lily broke into a run after Miley's retreating back, pushing through students in the crammed hallway. He knocked over Ms Kunkle and finally caught up to Miley.

"Miley!" she panted, out of breath.

"Oh!" Miley jumped, "hi, Lily. What's up?"

Lily shrugged, "nothing. Just didn't want to walk by myself," she said, looking nervously over her shoulder.

"Are you ok? You seem to be…avoiding something."

"What? Me? Jumpy? Psht, what made you think of that, I'm not jumpy!"

"Ok, ok, calm down. Sheesh." They continued walking along the hallway. "Hey Lily," Miley said, "you know what I've just noticed?"

Lily gave a distracted 'hm?'

"We haven't had some Miley Lily time in a while, have we?"

Lily seemed to relax a little, "yeah, you're right."

"How about we have a girls' night in this Friday?"

"Sounds good. Yeah, a girls' night in is what I need right now."

**Friday…**

Miley smiled; having a girls' night in was a brilliant idea. She missed spending time with Lily, it seemed as though they were both pretty distant at the time. Lily let herself in, DVDs in hand. Miley grinned and plonked down on the couch with a bowl of popcorn. Lily put in the DVD and sat down next to Miley, taking some popcorn. After watching 'Blades of Glory', Lily flipped the lights on and put the DVD back in its case.

"I miss this," she said, "just us two. No stupid boys," she said angrily, snapping the case shut violently.

"Wow, Lily. Where'd the aggression come from? Did someone do something to you?"

Lily sat back on the couch, hugging her knees to her chest and resting her forehead on them. "No… not someone…just me."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Lily sighed and pushed her hair back. "A guy likes me…and…well, it's complicated."

"Who is it?"

"Promise you won't laugh?" Miley nodded. Lily screwed up her eyes and said quickly, "It's Oliver."

"Oliver!" Miley exclaimed. "I mean…Oliver?"

Lily rolled her eyes, "Fine, go ahead and laugh. I know you want to."

"Thank you," she promptly burst into a fit of giggles, "Ok, I'm good."

"Good, now will you let me explain?" Miley nodded and listened attentively. "It all started when you and Josh creamed us at bowling, remember? Well…we kissed."

"Urgh! I mean…go on."

Lily rolled her eyes again, "yeah, I thought it was gross at the time, but it turns out that he's a really good kisser. I became addicted to him. I know," she held her head in shame, "I know, it is unbelievably selfish, but…he's like a drug."

"I think that's called lurvvvv."

"Shut up, I do NOT like Oliver!"

"Yeah; you lurv him."

"Stop acting like a six year old; do you want me to finish the story or what?" Miley nodded. "Alright then, shut your trap."

"The trap is shut."

Lily glared at her and Miley mimed zipping her mouth and throwing away the key. "Well, I just kept coming back for more and more, I didn't realize… Oliver liked me. He kept asking me out and telling me how much he liked me and I…I'm just not ready. Do you know what I mean?" Miley nodded. "And it sucks because I know I'm hurting Oliver but he just won't quit." She let out an exasperated growl and let her head fall on her knees again.

"Can I talk now?" Lily shrugged. "I think you should tell him…that you're not ready."

"He'll wait."

"Exactly, and when you're ready…"

Lily shrugged dismissively and busied herself eating popcorn. "How about you," she said accusingly, "you haven't exactly been one hundred percent Miley."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on, blowing Josh for Jackson's 'volleyball game'? Jackson's not even on the team, what's the deal with that?"

"Well…I had a Hannah thing."

"And why wasn't I invited?" Lily pouted. Miley shrugged. "Miley, I know you well enough to know when you're lying. So tell me, what's the deal?"

Miley was seriously considering telling the truth, but Jake's words rang in her ears: _"A word to anyone and I talk. Am I clear?"_ Miley shook her head. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine. Really." She nodded reassuringly at Lily, who raised her eyebrow skeptically and shrugged.

"I'm always here if you need me, you know that, right?"

"Of course I do, Lily," Miley said and fiddled with a piece of fluff on the carpet. "So…what other movies did you bring?"

**AN: this one is pretty short…I just thought Lily needed some closure…also showing Miley's struggle with Jake a bit… Anyhoo…**

**Review?**


	11. Stalker

**Saturday… (Miley's date with Jake)**

For their third date, Jake had (much to Miley's dislike) decided to leave the house. They had gone to a small carnival on the other side of town, so Miley reluctantly had agreed…not that she had much of a choice anyway.

She frowned as she sat in a plastic chair. Jake held out a snow cone to her and noticed her mood. "What's wrong, baby?"

"You're wrong. And don't call me baby." Jake shrugged and finished his snow cone…then proceeded to eat Miley's as well. "Can we go yet?"

"We just got here!" he said indignantly.

"Yes, and already you're on my last nerve. Hey, that's a new record for you."

"Let's just go on a few rides, Ok?" He grinned and looked over at the 'fireball', a rollercoaster on one continuous loop.

"Oh no, no way, I'm scared!" In truth, Miley loved that ride. She knew Jakes plan: he would go on a scary ride so she would cling on to him for dear life…but Miley had a few tricks up her sleeve.

"Don't worry, you can hold my hand," he said as they walked over to queue up.

"I think I'll have to." He grinned smugly, and behind him Miley rolled her eyes.

"Got tickets?" the ride man said when they reached the front of the queue.

"Excuse me?" Jake said, "do you know who I am?" As if on cue, six paparazzi jumped out from bushes and snapped some pictures. Jake flashed his famous grin at them, and Miley gasped and turned away from them.

The ride man lifted up his cap, blinked his eyes, and gasped, "You're Jake Ryan!" excited whispers of 'oh my god it's Jake Ryan!' were heard.

"Sorry, I didn't recognize you before," he continued and whispered in Jake's ear, "I'm a bit drunk," he said and chuckled. "Go right on in, Jake." Jake nodded thanks and Miley went to go in after him, but was stopped by the ride man. "tickets?"

"She's with me," Jake said.

"Is she your girlfriend?!" a girl in the queue piped up.

"No!" Jake glared at her. "I mean yes…no! We're friends. Just friends. Come on, Jake," she muttered to him and pulled him onto the ride.

"What the hell, Miley?"

"What?"

"What was that?"

"What did you want me to say, that I _was _your girlfriend?" Jake shrugged and nodded. "Well, I'm not a liar."

"Ah, but yes you are. You lie about Hannah every day, don't you?" Miley didn't reply. "Yep, and you lie about us don't you?"

"'us'? There is no 'us'. I'll tell you what we really are: you're the psychotic bastard, and I'm the helpless victim."

Jake was never given the chance to retort because the ride had started. The idiots behind them started screaming, even though they had hardly moved at all. Jake reached out for Miley's hand but she snatched it away quickly. Suddenly, she remembered her plan to get out of the stupid date. She took his hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Scared?" Jake yelled over the screaming. The ride grew louder as they went faster and faster. Miley pressed her lips together and nodded. She screwed her eyes tight and Jake put an arm around her. Miley cringed. That was worse than the ride. She wondered if he wore deodorant…

The screaming idiots behind them screamed louder as they made a full revolution. Miley still kept her eyes pressed firmly shut at the coaster went around once, twice, three times, and then slowed down. The idiots all went 'awwww' when the ride stopped. _That was fun_, Miley thought. She still had her eyes shut and Jake looked over her worriedly.

"Miley? Are you alright?"

She shook her head. "I don't feel too good," she mumbled.

"Oh," Jake said and jumped back. "Uh…could someone give us a little hand here?" the ride man stood up and walked over. "Could you take her to my car?" The ride man nodded and took Miley out of the ride. Miley wrinkled her nose at his smell of alcohol and fries. She pretended to be weak at the knees as she walked along, Jake staying a distance away, which, if they were really going out, would annoy her.

To pull off the effect, she made a gagging noise and ran over to a rubbish bin, lifted up the lid and made vomiting noises into it. She turned around and wiped her mouth, putting on a queasy face. "Sorry," she muttered. Jake made a disgusted face, and the ride man went and led her back to Jake's limo. On the ride home, Jake stayed on the opposite side of the car, a plus for Miley. _Wow, that worked better than I thought. How would've known Jake would be a total barfophobe?_ They reached Miley's house, and Jake practically kicked her out of the car.

Miley smiled to herself and walked up the steps to her house. She fumbled with her keys to unlock the door.

"Miley!" a whisper came from behind her.

"Who's there?" she asked shakily. "I know kung-fu!"

"It's me!" a rustling came from the bushes, and she saw Josh struggle through them. His jeans got caught on a stick; he stumbled, and fell at her feet. "Hi," he said sheepishly and got up.

"Josh, what are you doing here?"

"I can leave if you want," he said and turned around to leave. Miley quickly grabbed his forearm and pulled herself forward into his arms and kissed him. They pulled apart, and Josh rested his forehead on hers.

"That's not what a meant. You scared me is all," she said softly.

"I know," he chuckled and rubbed her back. He rocked her slowly, humming something under his breath. Miley closed her eyes and buried her head into his shoulder. She slowly opened them, then opened them in shock. The limousine was still out there. She could've sworn it had driven away. Miley took in a sharp intake of air _Jake is watching me._

"Josh, why don't you come inside?" she said and pushed him in. "You can go on up to my room, I'll be up in a minute." The second Josh had disappeared up the stairs; Miley went on a frantic rampage around the house, closing and locking every door and window, and then closing all the curtains and blinds. She ran up the stairs and into her room, slamming the door behind her. Looking cautiously around, she closed her curtains.

"Um…Miley, are you ok?" She turned around and beamed.

"Yup, never better, just peachy. Why do you ask?"

"You seem a little…tense."

"I'm fine, nothing a slap won't fix," she slapped herself. "There we go." Josh raised his eyebrow, but chuckled and shook his head.

"Oh, nice wig by the way," he commented. Miley gasped.

"Did you say…wig?" she turned around to see Josh holding up her Hannah wig, which she had carelessly left on the bed. _Could this day get any worse?!! _

"Yeah, what's it for? You're not bald are you? Uh…not that it matters…just curious."

Miley couldn't help but laugh. "No, I'm not bald. That wig is…" luckily, Miley was very good at lying, "it's for Halloween."

"Oh, cool. What are you going as?"

"I can't tell you; it's a secret."

"Ok, ok," he said, raising his hands as if in surrender. Miley grinned and sat cross legged on her bed; Josh behind her and took her in his arms. Miley sighed and leaned back into his chest, appreciating every breath he took that made his chest go up and down, every small kiss he planted on her head, every one of his fingers that was entwined in hers, and over all, just him being there. She missed him…or really she missed this Miley.

Josh's Miley.

Unfortunately, that time was sparse.

"Miley! Have you brushed your teeth?!" her dad called from downstairs.

"Shoot," Josh said.

"I'm going to, dad!" Miley yelled back.

"I've got to go," Josh said. Miley nodded and walked him outside on the veranda. He swung his legs over the railing and turned back to face Miley. He leant up and kissed her gently and pulled back inches from her face. "I love you, Miley. Really, I do."

"I love you too, Josh. Really, I do." Josh beamed and kissed her again. "Say it again," Miley said sheepishly, "It sounds nice."

He smiled, "I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you," he said, planting a small kiss on her lips with each 'I love you'.

"Miley!" her dad called again. Miley scowled over her shoulder.

"I've got to go."

"Night."

"Night."

Miley watched as Josh climbed down the veranda and walked quickly out of sight, letting the darkness of the night swallow him up. Miley smiled. She liked this Miley a whole lot better.

Josh's Miley.


	12. Every secret contains a lie

Miley jumped when her cell phone suddenly went off in her pocket. She had just received a text message from Jake: 

_We need to talk. Biology classroom. Now._

Miley sighed heavily and headed off to the biology classrooms. No doubt Jake wanted to set up another date. She was walking down the biology corridor, when she was pulled violently by the arm into an empty class room.

"Ouch," she said rubbing her arm, "don't have to go all macho man on me. Now what do you want?"

"Watch your tone."

"Stop acting like my dad. What do you want?" she repeated.

Jake took a deep breath, "I have to tell you something. I love you."

Miley rolled her eyes. "No you don't. You _think _you do, but you don't."

"I'm serious," he growled, his temper flaring. He calmed himself before continuing, "I love you so much, Miley. I saw you and _him _together last night-"

"Yeah, about that, spying is illegal you know; I could sue you."

"I saw you together," he repeated, ignoring her. "and it drove me insane. It made me realize how much I love you; how much I need you."

"Jake, you-"

"That's why I want you to break up with him."

Miley's mouth fell open. "What?! You're kidding, right?" Jake's face was dead serious. "No. No way. _No _way. No."

"Come on, Miley. We both know who is going to win in this argument."

"Not this time, Jake. You've gone too far. Nothing you say will make me do that. Go ahead, tell Josh I'm Hannah Montana; I don't care! Tell the world I'm Hannah Montana, it's better than this bullshit you're putting me through!" Miley yelled and finished, her nostrils flaring.

Jake kept a calm face. "Are you sure? Think about it: you are practically mauled every second that you're Hannah Montana. Imagine that even when you're Miley."

"I don't care, Josh-"

"Will still love you? I doubt it. Not after he finds out that you've been cheating on him. And even if he is a fool enough to stay with you, I have my ways of…disposing of people."

"You wouldn't. You wouldn't kill-"

"Kill him? You think I'd be so evil to do that?" he flashed a grin, "I'm flattered. But no, I wouldn't kill him. I could…I don't know, get him kicked out of school, make sure he never goes to college, send him to prison; the possibilities are endless. In any event, it's bye-bye Josh's future and happiness." He smiled victoriously and crossed his arms.

Miley felt like she was choking; she gasped and leant against the wall and tears sprang to her eyes. When she found her voice, she said, "You wouldn't."

"You don't know what I'd do. So what's it going to be?"

She held her head in her hands. Josh would be crushed…but she had to…to protect him. "I-I'll do it," she stammered weakly.

The victorious grin on Jake's face spread wider. "Excellent."

"Jesus," Miley muttered under her breath and held her head in her hands. Then, without warning, Jake rushed forward and kissed her, hard. She didn't bother fighting. What was that point? She stayed limp and let Jake have his fun. Soon, it felt like she was so distant that had even left her body. Jake ravenously attacked at her lips, but she just closed her eyes and stayed still.

Outside the hallway a boy walked past. He passed the classroom Miley and Jake were in without a notice, then stopped and doubled back. His lips parted slightly and his binder slipped slightly from his grip. A quick breath escaped Josh's lips; he shook his head slowly and then gritting his teeth walked off again.


	13. Boiling point

"Josh?" Miley said in science class. "Josh?" Josh stared blankly at the test tube in his hand, which contained salt. "Josh!" Miley yelled in a last effort to call his attention. Josh jumped and spilled all the salt in his lap.

He frowned and closed his eyes. "I'll go get some more," he said mechanically, and got up to retrieve some more. Miley frowned; Josh had been acting like that all day. She shook her head and filled a beaker with water, placing it on a tripod over a Bunsen burner. Josh came back with some salt, and wordlessly added it to the beaker and turned on the Bunsen burner.

Miley looked over to the next workbench where Jake was working with Sarah. He caught her eye and winked. _Please don't come over, please don't come over! _He came over. Josh glared at Jake with fire in his eyes, and Jake stared coolly back. Miley glanced between the two boys and sensed the tension.

Josh's teeth grinded against each other, but suddenly he broke the gaze and glared at the thermometer in his hands instead. "What do you want?" he muttered darkly.

"Oh nothing," Jake said and leaned against their workbench. "Just wanted to comment on how delicious Miley's lip gloss looks today," he said and licked his lips. Miley looked over at Josh, whose knuckles were turning white as he gripped the thermometer. The muscles in his arms and jaw tensed "Yesterday's was raspberry. I wonder what today will be-"

"Shut up." A small cracking sound was heard. Red liquid flowed freely from the thermometer that sat broken in Josh's hand. He closed his eyes tightly and furrowed his brow.

"Oh ho ho, someone's a little testy, are we?"

"I'd turn around and leave if I were you, actor boy," Josh warned, and opened his eyes, which were livid.

"Oh yeah?" Jake said and leant right into Josh's face. "What are you gonna do about it?" Before the argument could go any further, Ms Williams took Jake by the shoulder and pulled him away.

"What seems to be the problem?"

Jake backed off and put his hands up, as if in surrender. "Nothing, nothing, Ms W. Just having a friendly conversation, right?"

Josh glared at Jake. "Right."

"Get back to your seat, Mr. Ryan." Jake nodded and sneered at Josh before sitting in his seat.

"And you, Mr Cullings- oh my gosh you're bleeding," she said and promptly fainted. Josh looked down at his hands, and saw that Ms Williams had only seen the red liquid from the thermometer.

"Oh. I'll go clean up then," he grumbled and trudged over to the sink at the back of class.

Miley frowned angrily. _What is going on? Why is he acting like this?! _She got up and strode over to where Josh stood cleaning his hands.

"What has gotten into you?" she whispered angrily.

"I could ask you the same thing," he said flatly.

"What? What are you talking about? You're the one who _broke _the thermometer!" Josh frowned and said nothing, so Miley continued, "and what was all that about? Why were you talking to Jake like that? Both of you were being childish! Next time just ignore him and hold your tongue!"

Josh turned the water off. "You're one to talk."

Miley was taken aback. "What? What are you talking about? You are being so-"

"I saw you two together!" he hissed, the volume of his voice growing louder. He looked fiercely at her, and Miley stared helplessly back. "I have to go turn off the Bunsen," he said and shook his head sadly, dried off his hands and sat back in his seat. Miley watched him go in despair. Her stomach felt hollow and her legs trembled, so she leant on the counter for support.

She looked at Josh's back, and her eyes prickled with the tears that were forming; she quickly shook them off. _It's better this way,_ she thought, _that doesn't make it hurt any less…for both of us._

Miley looked warily over her shoulder to where Lily, Oliver and Josh were sitting, but her vision was quickly blocked by Jake's arm going over her shoulder. He hugged her possessively to his side.

"Relax: you're cramping my style."

Miley glared at him and shrugged his arm off her. She glanced back over and saw that Josh wasn't there anymore. After turning back around she saw him walking right towards them. Apparently, Jake saw it too. He grabbed her face and pressed his lips to them. As Josh walked past, Jake raised his eyebrows mockingly at him. Josh shrugged and walked back to the table where he rejoined Lily and Oliver.

Miley quickly pushed Jake off and frowned at him. "What was that for?"

"Hey, is it wrong to show my woman a little love?" Miley shrugged and poked at her sandwich with her finger; she wasn't hungry. She glanced back at her friends and saw Lily and Oliver looking over their shoulders at her. They shrugged sadly and looked away again. Josh, who was staring dully at his orange juice, didn't take any notice of the exchange. Jake put his arm around her shoulder again. Miley didn't shrug it off.

Meanwhile, Lily was facing a dilemma of her own.

**(AN: in this section, Lily's heart fights with Lily's head. She is not schizophrenic, she is just in indecision. Her heart is telling her to do one thing and her head is telling her to do another. Note: **_Italicized Lily's heart; _**BoldLily's head)**

_Look at him…he's so cute. His hair, his eyes…even the way he just spilled tomato sauce all over him is adorable._

**Stop thinking that! **

_Why not? _

**Because you know what will happen if you do? **

_Um…what is that again?_

**Ugh. Do I have to tell you everything? Oh wait-of course I do; I'm the brain! Fine, since it looks like I need to explain everything…you can't think those things because then you'll want to be with him. **

_So? What's so bad about that?_

**Honestly, I thought the answer was obvious. Well, what if you did get together?**

_It would be great._

**Maybe…for the first five seconds! Then there would be problems and you'd break up! Do you have any idea how awkward that would be?**

_We wouldn't break up. It would work; I'm sure of it._

**Humph. How can you be sure? **

_I don't know…sometimes you can feel something's right. I'm feeling it now._

**Ugh, you and your silly, girlish feelings. Get your head out of the clouds; all guys are idiots! Nothing's going to change that.**

_Oliver's different. He loves me…and I think I'm in love with him._

**Oh no! You did NOT just say that!**

_I'm going to tell him. Yeah. I'm going to tell him._

**Don't do it! You're making a mistake!**

_Shut up. It's my turn now._

"Oliver?" he looked up at the sound of his name.

"Yeah?"

"I have to tell you something."

"Really? What is it?"

"I…I-" It was then that the bell chose to ring. "Never mind." Oliver shrugged and slung his backpack over his shoulder.

**I told you.**

_Shut up. I need you for math class._

**Short one, I know. I wanted to give you some insight to how Lily was doing, too.**

**Reviews are appreciated**




	14. Hailey

Miley flopped on her bed after a long day, hugged her knees to her chest, and shook her head into her knees.

"Miley?" she looked up.

"Oh. Hey, daddy."

"You alright?" he asked and sat down next to her.

Miley nodded. "I'm fine." Robby didn't say anything and put his arms around her, engulfing her in a great bear hug. Miley leant her head against his shoulder, and let the first tear leak out. Angrily, she wiped the tear away and cursed herself for being so weak. She wouldn't cry. She was strong. She pulled away from the hug. "I'm fine, Dad."

"You sure?" Miley nodded. "Alright then…well, you'd best start getting ready for the concert; the Limo will be here in an hour." Robby kissed her on the forehead and went out of her room. Miley sighed and went over to her closet to get ready…

**(this is the part when, if it was the show, it would show Hannah singing…let me see…'bigger than us'…because I like that song. ANYWAY…) Oh, and even though in this scene she has the wig on, I will still be referring to her as Miley.  
**

**After the concert…**

"Phew," Miley sighed and flopped down on the couch in Hannah's dressing room. She was glad she got to do a concert; it took her mind off things. But still she was really tired and couldn't wait to go home and have a nice bath…

"Miley?" Her dad stuck his head in the door. "We've got some kids here to meet you."

Miley sighed; the bath would have to wait. She readjusted her wig and put on a smile. "Ok. Send them in." He opened the door, and five girls walked in. The oldest looked to be about twelve and the rest were eight or nine. They all chattered nervously and looked at Miley-or as they thought, Hannah- excitedly. From just outside the door she saw a shy girl, who looked younger than the rest, facing away.

"Go on, Hailey," a voice said from outside. "Don't be shy. I'll hold your hand." Hailey shrugged and shuffled in, holding the hand of…

"Josh?" Miley blurted out.

Josh looked up, confused. "How do you know my name?"

Miley cursed her carelessness. "Oh…I don't know. You just look like a Josh," Miley quickly made up. Josh gave a small smile, shrugged and took Hailey forward again.

Miley swallowed and knelt down to Hailey's level. "Hey sweetie, what's your name?"

"I-I'm Hailey," she said nervously.

"Oh, that's a pretty name. How old are you?"

"I'm this many," Hailey said and held up seven fingers. She counted again, a frown on her face, and put down one.

"Wow, you're a big girl. Who's your friend?"

"This is my big brother. He took me here; he's the bestest brother in the whole wide world."

"I'm sure he is," she said quietly and stood up. Josh smiled at her, and a sharp pain shot through her stomach. She wished Josh could smile at her again- not Hannah; Miley. She shook the thought aside. "Who wants CDs?"

After almost an hour of signing autographs, taking pictures and talking to her fans, the fans said goodbye to Hannah and left. Only Josh and Hailey were left. It was so hard for Miley to be so close to him; all she wanted was to leap into his arms and never let go. But she held herself back. Instead she kept at a distance as Josh shook his sister gently, for she had fallen asleep on the couch.

"Hailey…Hailey. It's time to wake up." Josh looked back over his shoulder and grinned at Miley. "This one could sleep through an earthquake."

Miley couldn't help but laugh. Hailey turned over in her deep slumber and mumbled slightly.

"And yes," he said, "she's a sleep talker." He smiled lovingly at his sister. "That was a great concert tonight, Hannah."

"Thanks. I'm glad you liked it."

"Yeah. Hailey loved it too. She loves you…but you must get that a lot, huh?"

Miley shrugged. "You get used to it."

"Yeah well…don't be offended if I don't, you know, faint in front of you…I've had enough of celebrities for a while," he said bitterly.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Do you know Jake Ryan?"

Miley shrugged, keeping up the Hannah façade. "Yeah…we've met a couple of times. He's the selfish, egoistic, vain guy? Yeah, I know him," Miley said darkly.

"You forgot to put in 'girlfriend stealer', but yep; that's pretty much him," he spat, and before he knew it, he was rambling: "Jake just walks in thinking he's king of the school, and he's all 'dude, I've slain you once, don't make me slay you again'. It just makes me sick," he scowled.

The knot in Miley's stomach tightened. She hated to see him hurting like this. _It's my fault. _

"And Miley, Ugh!" _Hold up now!_

"Miley? Who's Miley?"

"My girlfriend. She was kissing Jake."

"Well…how do you know she was doing it intentionally? You never know…Jake might have been, oh I don't know…blackmailing her."

Josh seemed to snap out of his rant. "What? Blackmail? Where did you get that idea?" he shook his head. "Sorry…I'm kinda dumping this all on you, aren't I?" he smiled sheepishly at her, shrugged and smiled. "Enough about me. How about you? I mean, _you're_ Hannah Montana!"

Miley bit her lip, and sat down on the couch next to Josh. "No…I'm not."

Josh gave her a confused look. "You're not? What do you mean?"

She checked on Hailey, who was sleeping peacefully. "I mean, I am…but I'm not. Does that make sense?"

"Um…no."

"What I mean is…" she slowly reached up to the fringe of her wig. She pulled. "_I'm_ Hannah Montana."

Josh's eyes widened. He blinked. "Miley?"


	15. Clark Kent

"_Enough about me. How about you? I mean, you're Hannah Montana!"_

_Miley bit her lip, and sat down on the couch next to Josh. "No…I'm not."_

_Josh gave her a confused look. "You're not? What do you mean?" _

_She checked on Hailey, who was sleeping peacefully. "I mean, I am…but I'm not. Does that make sense?"_

"_Um…no."_

"_What I mean is…" she slowly reached up to the fringe of her wig. She pulled. "I'm Hannah Montana."_

_Josh's eyes widened in bewilderment. He blinked. "Miley?"_

"Surprised?" she said weakly.

Josh was speechless for a moment. He spluttered on his words for a bit and managed to say, "you think?!" he swallowed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I mean come on, Miley! Or," he looked darkly at her, "Hannah."

"Now, Josh. Before you go insane, please, you have to understand. I thought…I thought that if people knew I was Hannah they would think of me as Hannah…and not Miley. That's why I did it in the first place. I just wanted to be normal. I hope you can understand that."

"I do…I do. But…don't you trust me?"

"Of course I do. There were just a lot of things going on."

"Oh, like Jake you mean?" he crossed his arms.

"Yes- but it's not what you think. What Hannah said about blackmailing was true. He was going to tell my secret to the world if I didn't go out with him." Josh looked furious, but Miley cut him off before he could say anything, "About how I've been acting recently…I swear, it didn't mean anything."

Josh nodded slowly and frowned. "Did you like it?" he said quietly.

"What?"

"When he kissed you…did you like it?" he repeated.

Miley made a disgusted face. "Of course I didn't! You don't have any idea of how much I would have wanted it to be _you _kissing me and not him. It's bad enough that he's a bastard, but he had gross lips and bad breath, it was like he was trying to eat my fa-"

"Thanks," Josh interrupted, "that's fine."

"Sorry." Hailey stirred in her sleep and Josh looked back at her. Miley quickly put her wig back on in case she woke up.

He sighed. "Sorry, but I'd better take this one home," he said and picked Hailey up.

"It's ok…can I call you tomorrow?"

Josh nodded, "please do. We have a lot to talk about." With his sister over one shoulder, Josh pulled Miley in a tight embrace. "I'm glad to have you back."

"Thanks…and I'm sorry."

"Hey…nobody's perfect, right?"

**Two days later…**

Miley waited anxiously for Jake to come at the park. She had called him there instead of him calling her. Miley had the feeling things would be better…

_Miley and Josh sat in 'their place'. Miley pushed her hair out of her face and hugged her knees to her chest, while Josh sat beside her. _

"_Do Lily and Oliver know?" he asked and twisted a blade of grass around his fingers._

_Miley nodded, "I told Lily first, then Oliver. They've known since last year."_

_Josh nodded. "I've been thinking about the whole Hannah Montana thing. It kind of fits. I guess that's why you couldn't make it to a lot of our dates, huh?" Miley nodded and shrugged. "It actually makes sense…You weren't being too discreet about your secret, really."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_I mean, look at your songs! 'there's another side of me I'm the girl you know but I'm someone else too', 'the other side of me' is also a big giveaway, and 'best of both worlds' too! You're practically saying MY NAME IS MILEY STEWART!"_

_Miley thought for a moment. "Wow, you're right. I feel dumb now." Miley quickly changed the subject to avoid further embarrassment, "What are we going to do now?"_

"_About what?"_

"_About Jake. What are we going to do? He still knows my secret."_

_Josh grinned mischievously. Miley's heart warmed; it was good to have him smile again. "I'm glad you asked that, Miley. I thought about last night when I got home. I have a plan that I think will work."_

Miley readjusted herself on the park bench, making sure she had everything planned out.

"What's this about, Miley?" Jake said from behind her. He flashed a sleazy grin, "Couldn't resist me, eh?"

Miley frowned. This part wouldn't be hard. "No. I wanted to tell you that I'm not doing this anymore. I'm not going to give in to you anymore. I'm tired of being your arm candy…I'm tired of you owning me."

Jake didn't lose his cool once. "Fine then. You've forced me to do something I really don't want to do," he said calmly and pulled out his cell phone.

Miley laughed.

Jake looked surprised at her, "what's so funny?"

"Don't you see? I don't care anymore. There's nothing you can do to me that will make me feel worse than this feeling I'm feeling right now…this dirty, rotten feeling. So go ahead; call them…it's not like they'll believe you anyway; you have no proof."

Jake grinned maliciously. "I'll show them the Hannah closet."

Miley shrugged, "It still won't change anything," she finished and glared challengingly at him.

Jake roared in fury. He punched in the number and held the phone to his ear, seething in rage. Miley watched calmly as he spat into the phone, "This is Jake Ryan." He glared at her, "do you want to hear the biggest scoop of your career?"

I sucked on my pen and adjusted the lamp so I could read the newspaper clipping. The harsh glow and heat coming off the lamp caused beads of sweat to form on my brow and my makeup to smudge. I took out a magnifying glass and put it over the picture on the newspaper clipping and stared into it, looking for…something; anything!

"Bah!" I exclaimed in exasperation and sat back in my chair. I might as well admit it: I, Bree Samuels, scoop queen of Malibu, was scoopless. I pushed my shiny, black hair our of my eyes and wiped my forehead. I might as well go home now…it wasn't as if my phone would miraculously ring with the biggest scoop in town. I laughed in spite of myself.

My phone rang.

_Spooky_.

I let it ring three more times before answering: "Hello, this is Bree Samuels."

"This is Jake Ryan. Do you want to hear the biggest scoop of your career?"

My eyebrows arched in interest. "A scoop, aye? What have you got?"

"What if I could tell you that Hannah Montana had a secret identity?"

"A secret identity? How do you mean?" This was getting interesting…

"Like when she gets off the stage, she becomes someone else…someone normal."

"Like Clark Kent?"

"Yeah…like Clark Kent."

"Where are you going with this?"

"What if I could tell you that I knew who Hannah's…'Clark Kent' was?"

This was getting suspicious. "What's in it for you?"

"Never mind that," he said sharply, then calmed his tone. "Now are you interested or not?"

I grinned. "I'm listening." I pulled out a pen and wrote down everything he said, 'uhuming' periodically. "I'll be right over, Mr Ryan. Just let me get some essentials," I said, and before I could say goodbye, he hung up. I yelled out to my secretary, "Mei Ling! Get me a camera crew, some airtime, my lipstick and an onion bagel with jam…I feel breaking news is gonna hit Malibu."

…

Twenty minutes later, my camera crew, my onion bagel with jam, and I were sitting in the back of a van driving to the address Jake Ryan had given me. "Make a left here," I directed the driver. The reporter inside of me squirmed in excitement, _not yet, _I soothed, and kept myself under control. "Pull over here," I told the driver. We pulled up on the side of the curb and the camera crew jumped out. I examined our location as they set up.

We were in around the corner from where Jake had told us the house was; he told us to meet him. Where was he? We were on soon. I jumped when I heard a stirring from behind me.

"I'm glad you came."

I turned around and saw Jake Ryan. I furrowed my brow…he looked a lot better on the T.V. Nevertheless, I smiled and said, "And pass up the chance of a lifetime? I don't think so."

He chuckled softly. "Good. How long until show time?"

"Soon. Are you sure this is the right place?"

He nodded, "I'm positive. Now, when you get in, go upstairs to the second room on the left. Open the closet. That's all you'll need." I nodded to show that I understood. "Oh…and one more thing. Can I tag along?"

"Sure. We owe you so much."

"Ms Samuels?" My cameraman called my attention, indicating that we were on soon.

"Thank you, Mr Ryan. Now if you'll excuse me…" With one last primp, I grabbed my microphone and stood in front of the camera.

"We're on in five, four," the cameraman counted down from three on his fingers and pointed to me, indicating for me to go.

I did my thing.

"This is Bree Samuels reporting live in front of what seems to be an ordinary house, but things aren't always what they appear. An inside source has told us that Hannah Montana lives here, and that Hannah Montana has a dark secret. Our source tells us that when the pop star comes off the stage, she becomes someone completely different; a normal person, like you and I."

Stan the anchorman's voice buzzed in my earpiece, "Like Clark Kent you mean?"

I grinned. "Exactly like Clark Kent. Now we are going to expose Ms. Montana for what she really is: a liar." I walked around the corner and up to the house, Stan chirping along with Wendy, his co-anchor along the way. I reached the front door. I reached up and knocked, my hands trembling in excitement. A tall man with long hair answered the door.

**(POV shift. third person.)**

His eyes widened in astonishment when he saw the cameras. "What are you doing here? Get out of my house!"

"Sorry sir, but we're on official news reporter business," Bree said and pushed past him. She looked around, found the stairs and headed up them, her cameracrew and Jake following.

"I could sue you for breaking and entering!" Robby yelled. When the camera crew disappeared up the stairs, he grinned and sat on the couch. _You still got it, Robby you ol' devil. It's up to Miley now._

Bree charged up the stairs. _Second door on the left. Look in the closet, _she repeated to herself. She found the door and paused, he hand on the door knob.

"Here it is, Stan," she said into the camera. She grinned and pushed the door open, storming into the room. She placed here hand on the handle into the closet. Behind her, Jake tensed in excitement.

"Ladies and gentlemen…I present to you, Hannah Mon-waaa?!"


End file.
